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A recent visit to an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London has sparked some serious reflections by me on the arts and crafts subject. Anni Albers (1899 – 1994) was a textile designer, weaver, writer, printmaker, teacher and a leading pioneers of twentieth-century modernism….

I have a fondness for travel sketchbooks which I always carry with me wherever I go. I maintain that taking the time to do a quick drawing while sightseeing is way better that taking a snapshot with the camera (which by the way, I also…

Walking through the streets of Ravenna during our art week last April we noticed a particular type of tile hanging beside doorways and shop fronts. They all had the same format: a ceramic frame enclosing a flower made with mosaic with the writing “Ravenna, Cittá…

‘Time is a jet plane. It moves too fast…’ Bob Dylan is singing on the radio as I drive in my car. ‘It certainly does!’ I silently remark to myself while I try to remember how long I’ve been making this journey from Dublin to…

I have a love for islands and even stronger love for volcanoes. I don’t know where this fascination comes from but it’s there and therefore it must be dealt with. So when two years ago fellow artist Barbara O’Meara asked if I would join her…

Ratljóst is an exhibition of work by artists Barbara O’Meara and Jole Bortoli produced last November during a month-long residency in Laugarvatn, a village some 70km from Reykjavik, Iceland. The show marks the collaboration between two artists who, over four weeks time, with just enough…

Summer is over and what a busy summer it was! The projects I have been involved in, the places I visited and the people I met seem now very distant but the experiences are still very fresh. One particular project – Artist in Action –…

“I’ve been an artist all my life” said the ten year old girl when I complimented her on the painting she’s just finished during the “Face to Face” portraits programme at The Ark, a cultural centre for children in the heart of Dublin. Over three…

1st February 2017 I have been drawing maps lately. Sitting at my desk with a blank page in front of me I close my eyes for a moment and then I start. Using fine point black pens I work from memory mostly connecting with pictures…

It’s 6,30am and I’m already at my desk working. It’s pitch-dark outside and it will be another three to four hours before dawn. If I’m lucky, it will be announced by wide brush-strokes of luminous pink the like of which I’ve never seen before. Gradually…